Mike Brown delivers again; Leonard Garcia taps in first at WEC 39

If you were on the fence about Mike Brown‘s legitimacy as the WEC’s featherweight champion, the gate has now been opened for you to walk through.

Despite a first-round finish of Urijah Faber in November 2008, many questioned if the American Top Team fighter had what it would take to stop a streaking Leonard Garcia on Sunday night in the main event of “WEC 39: Brown vs. Garcia.”

Starting with one heavy right hand, Brown proved to the American Bank Center crowd in Corpus Christi, Texas, that he had enough and more.

Though Garcia (12-4 MMA, 3-1 WEC) entered the bout as the feared striker, it was Brown (21-4 MMA, 3-0 WEC) who scored with the night’s first offense. An overhand right crumpled Garcia to the floor early on, and Brown unleashed an assault of punches and elbows on the floor.

Garcia was bloodied, but referee Mark Calo-oy gave “Bad Boy” every chance to escape as Garcia seemed to gather his wits. Brown remained relentless, and a series of punches and slicing elbows bloodied the Texan as he tried to hang on.

Brown mercifully applied a firm head-and-arm choke as it appeared Garcia was willing to endure any striking attack offered, regardless of brutality. Garcia relented as long as he could, but after a few weak punches from the bottom, the challenger was forced to tap at 1:57 of the first round in front of the disappointed crowd.

Following the bout, an emotional Garcia apologized to the fans for his performance.

“No excuses,” Garcia said. “He hit me with a good shot. I tried to recover. I tried to fight for you guys.

“Man, I apologize that this was my performance here tonight. I guarantee ya’ll one thing: I will be back again, and I will be challenging Mike pretty soon.”

As the crowd booed the defending champion, Brown tried to plead his love for the Lone Star State. A comical expletive mistake later, Brown explained his key to victory.

“I just stuck to my gameplan,” Brown said. “I did what I do every fight. I swing for the fences every shot. I try to put him down, keep my hands up. I do my thing.

“Leonard’s a world-class fighter. That’s just how the game is. One guy’s got to win, one guy’s got to lose. It’s unfortunate, because he’s a great guy.”

The obvious question of, “What’s next?” followed, and Brown declared himself ready to answer the fans’ demands of a rematch with former champion Urijah Faber.

“The fans want to see Urijah,” Brown said. “Urijah was a great champion, and I would love to fight Urijah again. … Let’s do it again.”

In addition to validating his position as the WEC’s 145-pound champion, Brown also wins for the ninth-straight bout. Garcia suffered the first stoppage loss of his career as well his his first defeat in the WEC.

Undefeated WEC newcomer Ricardo Lamas (6-0 MMA, 1-0 WEC) took his fight with seven-year veteran Bart Palaszewski (30-12 MMA, 1-1 WEC) on less than a week’s notice, but the rookie implemented his gameplan to perfection.

Realizing the danger Palaszewski presented on the feet, Lamas instead worked to the clinch at every available opportunity and utilized a combination of ground-and-pound and lay-and-pray to frustrate his opponent for the majority of the action. Palaszewski rose to his feet on brief occasions, but Lamas kept his opponent’s potent striking at bay.

The crowd oftentimes disapproved of Lamas’ strategy, but it was undeniably effective. Following the bout, Lamas admitted he knew the odds were stacked against him.

“I was nervous when I found out (about the bout),” Lamas said. “I came here on short notice, about five days. But when you get an opportunity like this, you have to take it.”

Lamas also said his gameplan was a simple one.

“He’s a real dangerous striker on his feet, so I tried to take it to the ground where I figured I had the advantage,” Lamas said. “It worked out in my favor.”

Lamas remains undefeated in his young six-fight career, while Palaszewski falls to just 2-4 in his past six bouts.

Aldo began the round by landing a few slapping leg kicks that seemed to wobble Mickle, but a flying knee is what started the final exchange.

After Aldo scored with the move, a clearly hurt Mickle retreated to the cage wall. Aldo just missed with a swift high kick then unleashed a flurry of left and right hands that forced referee Rafael Ramos to halt the bout just 99 seconds after it began. Aware of his corner’s disdain for his recent over-the-top celebrations, Aldo chose to sit calmly in his corner.

Following the bout, Aldo said he knew when his punches landed the bout was coming to a close.

“After I felt the punches, I knew the guy was in my hands,” Aldo said through an interpreter. “I will try to the best job and wait for the title shot.”

The win was Aldo’s fourth-straight stoppage victory in the WEC, while Mickle comes up empty in his WEC debut.

Hicks came out with a reserved gameplan — the antithesis of his “Wrecking Ball” moniker — and MccCullough seemed to be thrown off by the style. McCullough never looked comfortable as he looked to unleash his devastating striking, but Hicks wasn’t able to capitalize.
The best action of the fight occurred in the second round, when a stiff left from Hicks dropped McCullough and left him stuck in a guillotine choke. “Razor” Rob remained patient and escaped the hold, and he actually battled back to win the round.

The exciting exchange was not to be repeated in the final frame. Both fighters looked hesitant, and referee Mark Calo-oy actually warned the fighters he would declare the bout a no contest if the action didn’t pick up. The warnings went unheeded, and McCullough edged Hicks via majority decision.

McCullough bounces back from a November 2008 loss to Donald Cerrone, while the defeat was Hicks’ second straight after an 8-0 run to start his career.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

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